The governor says he wants to take New York’s reputation as “a high-tax state and just explode it, once and for all.” Amen to that. But then he whines that Albany’s too broke to cut rates.

“Cutting taxes is very hard and very expensive,” he says. “It costs about $6 billion to reduce [personal-income] taxes 1 [percentage] point. We don’t have $6 billion.” Instead, he’s pushing tax breaks for start-ups near colleges. He calls this his “Tax Free NY” plan and wants lawmakers to OK it before the session ends this week.

We’ve pointed out how special treatment for fashionable or politically connected industries creates a caste sytem where the little guys — the bodegas, dry cleaners and coffeehouses — are left high and dry. But even worse is the idea that the budget leaves no room for broad tax cuts.

To begin with, one of New York’s foremost budget experts, the Manhattan Institute’s E.J. McMahon, points out that Cuomo himself raised the top income-tax rate almost 2 percentage points. Which is odd for a guy who says he wants to cut rates.

McMahon also notes that undoing the hike would cost the state just $1.8 billion, not the $6 billion Cuomo claims.

Even if a significant tax cut did cost as much as the governor says, is it really true there’s no place to cut a state budget of $143 billion? How about starting with the multibillion-dollar grab-bag of tax breaks. Say the ones for beer production. For biofuel. Or for rehabbing “historic” barns. For being in “Empire Zones.” And so on.

The film and TV industry alone can pocket $420 million in cash. On its own, this is enough to cut rates a half-point.

On the spending side, meanwhile, Medicaid is a ripe target. New York, which leads the nation in Medicaid outlays, could shave more than a point off rates if it spent only as much as the next-biggest spender — California, which has twice our population.

It’s the same story for school spending. And public-employee benefits. And for . . . well, you get the idea.